KAREN WOO MEMORIAL FUND
Karen Woo with children of women imprisoned at Badam Bagh prison in Kabul, Afghanistan.
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About the Karen Woo Memorial Fund
The Enabled Children Initiative established the Karen Woo Memorial Fund (KWMF), in collaboration with the family of Karen Woo, in September 2020. The KWMF fund continues to honor the life, work, and legacy of Dr. Karen Woo, following the resolution of the Karen Woo Foundation in 2020. The KWMF continues work that was close to Karen’s heart, providing education, healthcare and residential care for children with disabilities from across Afghanistan.
Lynn Woo, Karen’s mother and a trustee of the KWF, said that “ECI’s principles are in line with those of the KWF. Karen was very concerned for women and children’s plight in Afghanistan and particularly those from poorer and disadvantaged backgrounds. We are confident Karen’s legacy will live on in the important work the ECI does, and many lives will continue to be changed for the better.”
The Karen Woo Foundation and the Enabled Children Initiative have partnered since 2013, when the KWF gave ECI one of its first grants to support the Window of Hope private care home for orphaned and abandoned children with disabilities in Afghanistan. Since then, KWF has been one of the longest and most committed supporters of Window of Hope.
The Life & Legacy of Karen Woo
Dr. Karen Woo was a British medical doctor and aid worker who was killed while on a medical aid mission in Nuristan, Afghanistan in August 2010. Karen was a committed humanitarian who was working to provide healthcare to those living in poverty and most in need, in the farthest reaches of Afghanistan, at the time of her death.
The team she was part of had trekked to the remote province of Nuristan where, over the course of 8 days, they treated over 1,500 people for ophthalmic, dental and general medical problems.
Over the last 18 months of her life, Karen was working on creating a film to increase awareness of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and the needs for healthcare in remote areas. She had started a small charity that supported health and education programs in Afghanistan, particularly those that focus on neonatal, pediatric and maternal health.
Karen graduated in 2003 from the The University College London Medical School and was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. As a medical student, she traveled to Trinidad and Tobago, Australia and Papua New Guinea for medical training trips, which opened her eyes to disparities in healthcare across the globe and inspired her to take action. A committed humanitarian, she worked with Afghanaid and Bridge Afghanistan, a not-for-profit collective of medics, film makers and journalists, and was involved in several activities in Afghanistan including airlifting donated medical equipment from the UK to Afghanistan for distribution to government hospitals, development of a health clinic for Badambagh Women’s Prison, and journalism workshops.
To read more about the life of Karen Woo and the work of the Karen Woo Foundation from 2010 - 2020, visit www.karenwoofoundation.org.
“We are confident Karen’s legacy will live on in the important work the ECI does, and many lives will continue to be changed for the better. ”
In one of the last photos taken of Karen, she is pictured here treating the injured foot of an Afghan policeman in Nuristan province.